Ram Leela Mela of Benares / Varanasi 1834

James Prinsep's (1799-1840), an antiquary and colonial administrator was assay master at the Benares Mint between 1820-30. He writes: 'Five or six spots in the town becomes annually this season, the scene of a Ram Leela...Many of the native regiments go to considerable expense in performing the Ram Leela...The Raja of Benares, or his estate at Ramnagar, conducts the performance in a very complete manner: really the whole of the Ramayana is read though in the course of twenty or thirty days, and whatever incidents are capable of being acted, or displayed, are simultaneously exhibited'.

Courtesy British Library